While most of the G4tv.com staff spent time upgrading their iPhones to OS 3.0 with great excitement, it was revealed that a group of U.S. Senators sent a letter to the FCC complaining about the exclusivity agreement AT&T enjoys with Apple. The Senators are part of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. According to PC World:
"The letter, which is signed by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), expresses concern that handset exclusivity arrangements may be anticompetitive and reducing consumer choice in the marketplace.
It's interesting to note that some concerns spelled out by the senators sound like they're a direct reaction to recent complaints over AT&T's status as the exclusive U.S. provider for Apple's iPhone. When last week Apple announced launch details for iPhone OS 3.0, AT&T was the target of scorn over delays to supporting the iPhone's new tethering and MMS capabilities. In the past, AT&T has also been accused of having spotty 3G coverage in rural areas."
Considering Apple's history of Machiavellian tactics, it wouldn't surprise me if it funded the letter and the actions behind it. (Just kidding.)
Personally, I hate all the exclusives and subsidies that are prevalent in the American mobile-phone market. I wish things were more open, like in numerous Asian and European countries. I think the iPhone is a damn impressive piece of consumer of electronics, but I also think AT&T's network is a damn piece of excrement. AT&T's service is so poor in the areas I work, play, and visit that there's no way I'd get an iPhone...as long as it's exclusive to that network.
On the other hand, this is another example of government officials wasting time on stupid problem. Homelessness, hunger, poverty, and health care are exponentially more important things to focus on than some hack carrier having exclusivity on an excellent phone. Besides, Apple's actions and the rumor mill indicate that iPhone exclusivity won't be an issue in 2010.
What do you ladies and gentlemen think? Are exclusivity deals a healthy part of a capitalist market? Or is Kerry's crew right in wanting to socialize (*snicker*) the mobile-phone market?
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deline
Hahaha U.S. Senators you help make some of the law with the FCC Hahaha but now you Hate AT&Ts Deal with Apple Hahaha. I got two words for you SUCK IT! DX!
eh i am forom Canada and the Iphones are on Rogers Communications Inc, http://www.ianbell.com/wp-cont ent/uploads/2007/07/iphone-bea ver.gif
Also i dont have a Iphone yet because i am going to gat the Newer one when that comes out lol. G4or G5 mabe the G6 lol.
thay come out so fast by the time you gat one the next one is comeing out. lol
r_pad
@Infamous_Bizarro Again, it depends where you live, work, and travel to. That's great that AT&T works well for you in Texas, though I remember that the network crumbled when too many iPhones were in Austin for SXSW.
Ashnnat
@ Smartguy81
Since my tax dollars already pay for your police, your libraries, public transportation and maintance, schools and many other things, I won't mind also paying to make sure you stay healthy and productive. BTW, the whole-bread-line-goverment-con troled paranoia is soooo 60's, needs to get a new scare tactic.
I have at&t with another 3G phone that works great, but haven't buy an iPhone cuz I simply refuse to pay for the data plan that doens't even includes messaging (same reason I don't own any other PDA or blackberry), I rather buy the samsung eternity with which I can have great 3G internet with 200 messages a month for $20.
Smartguy81
@bert
partnering with another company to distribute and operate your product in conjunction with is not illegal. If this were any other phone, we wouldn't be having this discussion. I have yet to see a thread about how ppl hate that the Storm is available only through Verizon.
BertSaxby
As a republican I would have thought that you would have sided with the free market principle of allowing all company's to compete on equal footing. Exclusives are clearly anti-competition. I guess in this case you can overlook that since it falls under the freedom to make shifty monopolistic deals act.
anubisthelegend
The goverment has no right to tell anyone who they can and cannot have deals with. if apple wants to deal with at&t and noone esle that is totally up to them. damn liberals and their socialist ways. when the hell is someone going to stop the crazy liberal train! UP YOURS OBAMA! UP YOURS JOHN KERRY!
Infamous_Bizarro
verizon sucks!, I disagree. Should Stay With AT&T. I have AT&T and I have no problems with it at all! in fact! when im with my friends and they have t mobile and sprint and metro, we go out to eat at a resturant.... not one of there phones have service! no bars or nothing.. Guess who has Bars?? My iPhone! because I got AT&T the best company in Texas
Phoenix05
Alltel is now owned by Verizon, which is why their new commercials tout their 10 friends and family numbers on any network similar to what Alltel used to offer.
Giga
i see the whole issue with to many in one area but as a former tech supervisor for a major phone company (not att) i can tell you this problem will happen to any carrier given the limits of what any cell tower can do. So in the end its the limits of standardized tech more than the limits of the company compaired to others
Giga
Where i live i have great 3g coverage i do a lot of traveling even to rural areas and one thing i will say while at home I have great coverage and when traveling while it may not be 3g im often the only one with coverage. Sprint friends spend their time roaming and verison has some coverage but its over all spotty and tmobile well out side of the city they just roam on att. i dont know much about altel but i do know they use sprint here out east and sprint runs on their network out west so i cant see them being any better.
Smartguy81
@Ray
Indeed. You are damn near better off toting around a netbook and a headset to do VoIP everywhere haha.
furiousgeorge
I love my iPhone but AT&T's network sucks here in Utah, The city where I live has alright coverage, but I go 20 miles over to the next city and it's basically a dead zone. I don't really mind that AT&T has exclusive rights to the iPhone I just wish they would make their network better especially for how much they charge you.
blasphemous
i really like my iphone, its only 8 gigs, and really, who needs more than that for a phone.
after using Verizon and sprint as cell carriers, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that AT&T is the better network in Ga. Sorry to hear that the network doesnt work so well on the west coast. I am in Vancouver right now, which means that I am currently on the Rodgers network and it seems fine (although the $15/MB data charge is just fraking outragous!!)
Bunghole3030
In rural America Verizon is the only choice (at least in Arizona). I would love an iPhone or at least a similar device. Verizon sucks as far as letting good hardware manufactures on their network. As of now though (with their own software), it is the only choice I have.
r_pad
@Smartguy81 In a perfect world, I could get an Android phone with UMA and an OLED screen. Since I travel internationally, the features of the 8900 (UMA) and the 9630 (local SIM in addition to domestic CDMA) are appealing.
piccolo334
There should be a system that whenever a sentor/congressmen/president/m ayor does something stupid like this it docks their pay. We could have the deficit pay off in a few months and have competent leaders, its a win win.
As far as the Iphone goes, it really depends on where you live. Where I am at you only have AT&T and Verizon, all other carriers stink. I travel alot and have dealt with both companies network....they both stink. My initial reaction to the cell phone service as a whole is, in the age of digital and voip why are cell phones not using the fast 3G data line to make calls?
scottyrob82
I agree with Raymond. Yes I want an iPhone but will not get one as long as At&T is the only carrier. My brother says that if he is around another person with an iPhone the service craps out and he's around a lot of people with them.The fact that a few politicians would write a letter of complaint about this then put their heads together to solve "real problems" like violence, crime, poverty, and why I can't get a job like MILLIONS of Americans should be of greater concern.
Smartguy81
@ashnnat continued
look at britain. their healthcare system is inundated. the medical industry which employed so many hemorrhaged jobs since employers dropped their health benefits in order to cut down on expenses. the logic was that they no longer needed to offer it since it was all on the taxpayers. this will cost alot of jobs.
ps. i do not want to buy your medicine or pay for any of your medical bills with my tax dollars. nothing against you, but i can take care of myself and you should be able to do the same.
Smartguy81
@ashnnat
i'm not immortal, nor am i super duper rich. i'd rather not wait in the equivalent of a bread line to see the doctor. think of it this way, and really think about it..do you really want these numbskulls to make medical decisions for you? everytime you hear about them it is something else even more stupid than the last story. a good example is the mustang ranch brothel in nevada. they were taken over by the gov't over back taxes. in accordance with federal law the gov't had to run the place to recoup the lost taxes. they failed misereably. they couldn't sell poon and whiskey in the desert yet you want them making medical decisions for you??
Smartguy81
@ray
Yeah I read your story on the pros and cons as you saw them. To be honest, I don't think you are settling for anything less by going with Rimm.
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